


don't ever give me a hint

by neenswrites



Series: Kenma Ship Week [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Death from Old Age, Demigod Ushijima, Happy Ending, M/M, Minor Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Riddles, god kenma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neenswrites/pseuds/neenswrites
Summary: “You defeat me by solving one of my riddles.” Kenma reclined further back on the steps as he explained, reciting the rules as he had thousands of times before. “I will give you one riddle. You have until the sun goes down to give me your answer. You may only answer once, and I will only give you one riddle per day. If you get it right, you get to ascend.”Ushijima furrowed his brows at him. “Is that all? Answer one riddle?”Kenma bit back his smirk. “Yes. That’s all. After all, I am Kenma, God of Riddles. There isn’t much more I could do to stop you.”-The last step Ushijima needs to take before achieving godly status is answering a riddle from Kenma. It just so happens that he's truly awful at riddles.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Series: Kenma Ship Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850572
Comments: 9
Kudos: 74
Collections: Kenma Ship Week 2020





	don't ever give me a hint

**Author's Note:**

> USHIKEN!!! THIS ONE IS FOR YOU KANON!!!!!
> 
> big thanks to [mads](https://twitter.com/todxrxki) for beta reading this for me, ur love for ushijima is truly inspiring

If there was one vice the gods liked to indulge in the most, it was gossip.

Usually Kenma was the first to critique his fellow gods, but this vice even he was guilty of. 

Mortals were just so interesting. They riled themselves up over small, insignificant things such as the shade of their hair, but barely even flinched at the first signs of war. They were so resilient as well. No matter what the gods seemed to throw their way, mortals always found a way to come back from it.

And everyone once in a while, there came someone so great that they even became a god themselves.

And according to the current rumours, this lifetime’s best chance was a demigod named Ushijima.

No one was quite sure who the godly parent of Ushijima was, but he’d apparently gotten as far as he had through brute force alone. He’d singlehandedly crushed countless monsters and demons, and was apparently doing all of this to make a place for himself in the heavens. 

Kenma wasn’t particularly impressed with what he heard. He’d seen this innumerable times before: a young demi-god who thought that strength was enough to get them invited into heaven. But it didn't matter how many monsters Ushijima beat, how many demons he vanquished, how many damsels he saved.

Because no matter what, in order to become a god, they would always have to go through Kenma. And no amount of brute force would ever be able to overcome Kenma.

-

When Kenma saw a man appearing from the horizon and approaching his temple, he was positive that it had to be Ushijima.

Ushijimad had just conquered a decade old demon that had killed dozens of heroes before him. It was only a matter of time before he made his way to Kenma.

“Are you the god named Kenma?” he asked as he approached the steps of the temple where Kenma sat, and Kenma titled his head in interest. It wasn’t typical of mortals to speak to a god so directly. Kenma was surprised by how much he enjoyed it.

“I am,” Kenma said slowly, as he tilted his head up to survey Ushijima fully. “Are you the demigod they call Ushijima Wakatoshi?”

If Ushijima was surprised that Kenma knew his name, he didn’t show it. “I am. I’m here to defeat you and take my place among the gods.”

Kenma hummed. Ushijima was very direct then. It would be admirable if it wasn’t so laughable. “And do you even know what you need to do to defeat me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ushijima said immediately. “Whatever it is, I shall triumph.”

Kenma pursed his lips. The prevail without fail thing was beginning to grate on his nerves. Kenma didn’t have this position for nothing. His position was created to weed out the regular mortals from those truly intended for divinity, and Kenma would make sure Ushijima remembered that.

“You defeat me by solving one of my riddles.” Kenma reclined further back on the steps as he explained, reciting the rules as he had thousands of times before. “I will give you one riddle. You have until the sun goes down to give me your answer. You may only answer once, and I will only give you one riddle per day. If you get it right, you get to ascend.”

Ushijima furrowed his brows at him. “Is that all? Answer one riddle?”

Kenma bit back his smirk. “Yes. That’s all. After all, I am Kenma, God of Riddles. There isn’t much more I could do to stop you.”

“Okay,” Ushijima said before he knelt to sit on the ground with his legs crossed. He poked absentmindedly at the flowers at his feet. Kenma blinked down at him in surprise. “What is your riddle?”

Kenma actually allowed himself to smile now. This was his favorite part. “There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?”

This was one of Kenma’s favorite riddles. The answer most people said at first was a healer, but that wasn’t a house. Furthermore, no healer was able to solve blindness. The more clever answer was a school, but that assumed Kenma was speaking of a metaphorical blindness. He was not. 

There was only one correct answer, an answer no one had gotten correct before. Kenma glanced up at the sun’s position high in the sky. Ushijima had under seven hours to think on it, so there was no way -

“My house.”

Kenma whipped his head back down to look at Ushijima, unsure if he was more surprised by the speed of which he answered or by the answer himself. Or maybe Kenma was mistaken. Maybe Ushijima was simply thinking out loud.

“Did you hear me, Kenma?” Ushijima asked, and Kenma’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “My answer is my house.”

“Your house,” Kenma repeated incredulously. 

“Yes,” Ushijima said, voice never wavering. “I was born in my family’s home. When I was born, I couldn’t see because my eyes were closed. Then, when my mother took me out of the house, I opened them.”

Kenma stared, gaping, at Ushijima for a long time. Ushijima didn’t fidget even once.

“So to clarify,” Kenma said as if speaking to a child, “you think that the answer to the riddle I came up with to test mortals from around the world is  _ your _ house.”

Ushijima nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s completely wrong,” Kenma said flatly. Ushijima frowned at him, and Kenma almost wanted to laugh. “Ushijima, you barely gave the riddle a minute’s thought. Of course you were going to get it wrong.”

It wasn’t that the riddle was all that tricky. It was that the person answering had only one chance to guess it correctly. Most heroes waited until the last moment to guess, and even then got it wrong.

Though, perhaps Ushijima’s quick thinking was to his benefit. Many had over thought the riddle so much they talked themselves out of the correct answer, instead coming up with something utterly convoluted. 

“What was the answer then?” Ushijima demanded, and Kenma rolled his eyes. This he was used to.

“A temple.” Kenma rapped the steps he was sitting on with a smirk. “Only the gods can take a blind man and give him sight.”

Ushijima stared at Kenma for a long while before finally nodding. “I see. You’re correct.”

Kenma’s lip twitched down. He didn’t need Ushijima to tell him he was right.

“I will be back tomorrow then,” Ushijima continued, and Kenma’s eyebrows climbed high on his forehead.

“Ushijima, your answer was awful.” The demigod didn’t even flinch. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to solve any of my riddles. You should just go home. There’s nothing wrong with living the life of a mortal.”

Ushijima looked directly into Kenma’s eyes then, and Kenma almost shivered with the intensity he saw in them. “No. I will beat this challenge.”

Kenma considered the confidence with which Ushijima spoke with a quiet hum. “And how do you know this.”

Ushijima looked up then at the sky, and Kenma found himself tempted to follow his gaze.

“Because I must.”

-

Kenma had expected Ushijima to come back the next day - the idiot was too hard headed not to. He’d even expected him to return every day in the week following. 

But when Ushijima was still coming to the temple every day even a month later, Kenma was surprised. Especially considering Ushijima had never even gotten close.

"Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son," Kenma said as he lounged on the steps. He wasn’t even looking at Ushijima as he boredly recited the riddle. “Who is ‘that man’?"

Ushijima was quiet for exactly ten seconds before he said, “The grandfather.”

Kenma sighed. “No. ‘That man’ is the son of the speaker.”

Ushijima frowned. “You have a son?”

Kenma wheezed in laughter, rolling onto his side and nearly falling off the step he was sitting on. 

“What are you talking about?” Kenma asked through his laughter. “No, I don’t have a son.”

Ushijima’s frown deepened. “But you said the speaker’s son?”

“Yes, the metaphorical speaker.” Kenma sighed, but he couldn’t help the smile that was tugging at his lips.

“Ah.” Ushijima nodded in understanding, and Kenma didn’t doubt he did understand. The thing was, once he explained a riddle to Ushijima, Ushijima usually understood the answer.

Maybe if the demigod thought about the riddle for longer than a minute, he’d have a higher chance of coming up with the right answer. He said as much to Ushijima.

“But that’s how I have always been.” Ushijima looked down at his hands. “I powered through without hesitation. Why would I hesitate now?”

“This isn’t the sort of thing you can just muscle through,” Kenma said. He wasn’t sure why he was giving Ushijima advice on this. Well, he had an inkling of an idea, but that wasn’t something he was ready to address today.

“I have actually been wondering about that.” Ushijima looked up at Kenma before shifting his gaze behind him and into the entrance of the temple. “What is to stop me from simply overpowering you and going into the temple myself?”

Many heroes had asked Kenma this question before. Most had asked anger, others in clear doubt of Kenma’s status as a god. However, Ushijima seemed genuinely curious. He didn’t look at Kenma with spite or condescension in his eyes. Only interest. 

So instead of sending him flying away from the temple, Kenma just shrugged and said, “Try it.”

Ushijima’s eyebrows raised minutely, but then he was standing from his customary spot on the dirt. He lifted his foot to take the first step up, but his foot merely went through the steps. He looked down at his foot, and then looked back up Kenma.

“No one can enter the temple unless I allow them,” Kenma said, answering his unspoken question. “It’s my power that keeps the heavens protected - it’s the reason why the temple has no guard dogs or monsters. The only thing in between mortals and the heavens is me, and the only way past me is my riddles.”

“Is that why you never leave the steps?”

Kenma’s eyebrows shot up high on his forehead. He hadn’t expected Ushijima to pick up on that. “Yes. If I were to leave, then the temple would be entirely defenseless. My power is what makes it impenetrable.”

Ushijima’s mouth parted in surprise. “Incredible.”

Kenma’s eyes went wide, and he felt a flush creep up his cheeks. “What?”

“You must be quite powerful to stop even a demigod from taking a single step on the temple.” Ushijima looked to where his foot was still phased through the first step, and pulled it back. “It’s such a silent strength. It’s incredible.”

Kenma studied Ushijima carefully. “Yours is that of a silent strength as well.”

Kenma wasn’t lying. Ushijima was large in height and bulk, but he had to be even more powerful than his size portrayed him to be. One doesn’t beat the deadliest monsters in the realm without being a monster of a man themselves, or a demigod. 

But despite this, Ushijima never boasted of his strength. He talked of it, but only matter-of-factly and only when he deemed it was relevant to the conversation. He never put his strength on display. It was just a part of him, never something he felt he needed to flaunt.

But Ushijima shook his head minutely at Kenma’s words. “My strength has never been silent. It has always been accompanied by the screams of monsters and the shouts of victims.”

Kenma frowned at him, but Ushijima didn’t seem bothered by what he said. He spoke as if it was something that was true, and would simply always be true.

Kenma slid a couple steps down so he could look Ushijima in the eye. “That isn’t all your strength is. It’s in the moments when you reign it in as well.”

Because Ushijima, despite his size and power, was surprisingly gentle. Kenma knew this because despite the fact that he couldn’t ask Kenma another question, he stayed by the temple for the rest of the day. 

Ushijima would stay and pluck the flowers that grew around the temple, and weave them into wreaths. He would speak of the soil, and wonder out loud what made the flowers grow so strong. He would listen as Kenma told him of the rumours he heard when other gods visited him in the temple. He would sit in comfortable silence with Kenma as they laid on their backs and watched the clouds go by.

While strength was often accompanied by violence, it didn’t always have to be. To Kenma, Ushijima was proof of that.

-

Kenma was beginning to worry.

Every day Ushijima continued to return, and every day, Kenma grew more and more endeared to him. Kenma should know better. He’d endured this once before, and had only been faced with heartbreak.

But thoughts like that only caused him to continue drawing comparisons between Ushijima and Kenma’s hero from before.

On the surface, they were different in every way. Ushijima was strong and straightforward and honest, while the other was intelligent and observant and withdrawn. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their status of demigod.

But they were both driven. They both got this look in their eyes that was so determined it took Kenma’s breath away. 

They both had managed to build a place in Kenma’s heart.

With his former love, Kenma had fallen weak, and he gave up. He’d given him a riddle easier than he’d ever given anyone before.

And now, despite all the pain that had caused him, Kenma was considering doing it again. He knew he shouldn’t, that Ushijima hadn’t even come close to answering a question right. That he hadn’t earned it. 

And yet Ushijima’s persistence continued to tug at his heart, and today it seemed to all come to a head.

The sun was right on top of them when Ushijima smiled at Kenma, small and warm, and asked as he always did, “What is my riddle for today?”

Kenma opened his mouth, but again the thought crossed his mind of giving Ushijima an easier riddle. He felt himself falter for a split second, and before he could speak, Ushijima was speaking again.

“You hesitated,” Ushjima accused. Kenma clicked his mouth shut. How had Ushijima even caught that? “Why did you hesitate now when you’ve never before?”

Kenma averted his gaze. “What does it matter?”

“Something is bothering you.” Kenma wanted to curse. Why hadUshijima chosen now, of all times, to be perceptive? “What is it?”

“You do realize every moment you spend pursuing this is a moment you could instead be spending deliberating the answer to the riddle,” Kenma said drily. 

Ushijima blinked at Kenma. “What does it matter when I always answer with the first thought that crosses my mind?”

Kenma snorted, loudly and unbecoming of a god like himself. Oh, were Ushijima and his hero from before so different.

Maybe different enough that Kenma could tell Ushijima about his past.

“Before you, there was only one other hero who had lasted this long with me,” Kenma said softly. The blank look on Ushijima’s face didn’t change, but he did settle more comfortably onto the ground. Kenma licked his lips, nervousness beginning to creep up on him. “His name was Tsukishima Kei.”

“Tsukishima was strong, as you are, but he didn’t seem to care much about the favor of the gods.” Kenma brought his knees up to his chest and allowed himself a small smile. “We had that, among many things, in common.”

“I never understood why he tried so hard if he didn’t care about being a god,” Kenma continued. “But I humoured him. I gave him his riddle every day, and every day he was unable to beat me - but not because he got the riddle wrong.”

“You see, the one thing Tsukishima hated more than anything was being wrong. He couldn’t stand the thought of me looking down at him and telling him he’d made a mistake. So he’d stand where you are now, thinking of the answer, and the moment the sun set, he would tell me it. And every time he was right.”

“I thought he’d either finally give me the answer before sunset or get frustrated and leave. All my riddles have a red herring, so it would be impossible for him to ever tell me with complete certainty. But he never changed and never gave up. It was so frustrating to watch.”

Kenma let out a shaky breath, the next part of the story still a sore spot for him. “And then one night, after the sun had set again and he’d guessed the right answer, Tsukishima told me he was happy he had failed so often. He was happy because if he hadn’t, he’d have never gotten the opportunity to know me.”

“The thing was, I was already in love with him at that point,” Kenma confessed shakily. “But him saying that to me was just the final nail on the coffin. It was so hard because I wanted him to be happy, so I wanted him to ascend. But another more selfish part of me wanted him to stay here with me.”

“But I wouldn’t let myself be selfish. I actually did the opposite.” Kenma turned his head so his cheek rested against his knee. He didn’t want to have to see Ushijima’s face for this.

“Only a couple days after Tsukishima told me that, I gave him a different riddle. A riddle with no red herring. A riddle that Tsukishima could see through with the utmost confidence.” Kenma felt himself start to choke up and swallowed roughly. He was over Tsukishima now. This had all happened several lifetimes ago, but it didn’t mean that thinking about it didn’t still sting. 

“And he answered it. So I let him into the temple, and he was granted divinity and let into the heavens.” And he’d left Kenma. Kenma knew that Tsukishima was always going to leave, but later he’d found out that he was made God of the Sunrise. He was given this role, because while he hadn’t cared much for the gods in general, he did care a great deal for the God of the Sun. Everything he’d done he did just to be able to spend eternity with him.

That had stung most of all.

But Ushijima didn’t need to know all of that. Not now, anyway. 

“And you were about to do the same for me,” Ushijima said, no hint of a question in his voice. 

Kenma understood the implications of admitting that it was true. It would mean admitting that he now had feelings for Ushijima. That he was quite possibly in love with Ushijima. But maybe this was his fate - to constantly fall in love with the people who stayed, and to never be able to leave this stupid temple and be with them.

If that was his fate, then there was no harm in admitting the truth to Ushijima. The cycle would continue either way. So Kenma shrugged and uttered a simple, “Yeah.”

Ushijima stared at Kenma for a long time, and Kenma stared back. He wondered if Ushijima would leave tonight and never come back. If he would ask Kenma for the riddle with one answer and leave Kenma to join the rest of the gods. If he would simply pretend like Kenma had never said anything and continue their routine as normal.

Kenma thought the last option was somehow both the kindest and the cruelest of them all.

“You ask me every night why I try to join the heavens, and every night I tell you because I must,” Ushijima finally said, his eyes still gazing intently at Kenma. “I say that because it’s all I’ve ever known. With my strength, there was no way for me to live a normal life. Becoming a god was my only option.”

Kenma had never considered that. Ushijima’s strength was legendary by now, but the life of a demigod was almost always as lonely as the life of a god.

“But then I met you,” Ushijima smiled then, and Kenma’s mouth parted at the sight. “You didn’t look at me for my power or accomplishments. You looked at me for all I am. No one had ever looked at me that way before.”

“Ushijima,” Kenma said hesitantly. He wasn’t used to being the one asking Ushijima the questions. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that I think I would be perfectly happy never being a god if that meant a lifetime with you.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean,” Kenma said softly, because Ushijima had to be sure about this. Kenma wouldn’t be able to handle it if Ushijima ever went back on his word.

Ushijima frowned at him. “Throughout my entire life, I have never spoken a word I didn’t mean.”

Kenma laughed, the sound a little broken, as he held tight to the steps he was sitting on. “Okay.” Kenma tried biting his lip to keep down his smile before repeating, “Okay. I trust you.”

Kenma waved his hand, and then stretched it out to reach for Ushijima. Ushijima’s eyes went wide before he carefully placed one foot on the first step of the temple. And then the other. And then the other. And then he was directly in front of Kenma, cupping his face in his hands.

“I vow to spend my life with you, Kenma God of Riddles,” Ushijima said solemnly. Kenma blinked rapidly, unprepared for the declaration, and struggled to come up with something to say back.

“And I - I vow to love you at every stage of that life,” Kenma said stiltedly, before quickly adding, “No matter what happens.”

“Very well,” Ushijima said before he leaned forward to seal their vow with a kiss. Kenma let his eyes flutter shut, and let himself melt into the warmth of Ushijima. 

His Ushijima.

-

Ushijima kept his promise. Heroes came and went, and one particularly clever woman named Kiyoko even managed to crack one of Kenma’s riddles. Ushijima stayed by his side through it all, even when his age made it so that he could no longer make the trek to the bottom of the stairs with Kenma.

“You could become a god now,” Kenma said to him one night when Ushijima’s final days were soon approaching. “It would save you, and I would do it without question.”

“I vowed to spend my life with you,” Ushijima responded. “I have never broken a vow to you. Don’t make me break the first one I ever made.”

So with a heavy heart, Kenma respected his wishes. Only a week after their conversation Ushijima died peacefully in his sleep.

In that moment, Kenma summoned all of his godly powers. He focused all of his powers on Ushijima, and watched with a bittersweet smile as he burned out of existence.

Above the temple where Kenma sat alone, was a constellation of a flower. It burned brighter than all the other stars in the night sky.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading i hope you liked it!!!! i will never be writing ushijima again!!!!!!!!
> 
> (not bc i dont love him, but bc writing ushijima was the most difficult thing i've ever done oh my god)
> 
> here's my [twitter](https://twitter.com/neenswrites) if you want to say hi!!!!!!!


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